Opioid resources

Prescription opioid use and misuse increased dramatically over the past two decades. Because of the devastating impact of opioid misuse on families, communities, and the health-care system, the U.S. federal government declared the opioid crisis a national emergency in 2017. Addressing this epidemic will require efforts at all levels of the health-care system, ranging from careful opioid prescribing practices to adequate emergency response and improved access to effective detection, referral, and treatment for individuals with opioid use disorder.

Psychologists can play an important role in addressing this epidemic. Psychologists, like primary care physicians, have the potential to be on the front lines of opioid misuse detection, in part through educating and assisting families and loved ones, as well as intervening directly with those misusing opioids. Also, psychologists can play a key role in substance use disorder treatment, including behavioral interventions for adherence to front-line medication therapies as well as the provision of evidence-based psychosocial interventions and the treatment of co-occurring conditions, such as anxiety, depression, and chronic pain.

In this guide, we provide resources to help psychologists respond to the opioid crisis. The scope and nature of opioid misuse have rapidly evolved throughout this crisis and continue to evolve. Although we aim to provide the most current information on the opioid epidemic in this guide, we encourage readers to follow local and national trends closely, as the epidemic will likely continue to evolve and will be subject to regional variation.